The Evolution of Lisbon
by lysjelonken
Summary: How Lisbon had changed in Jane's eyes in seasons 1 through 3  I warn, it stops at 3'1  Jisbon angst, of course.


**The Evolution of Lisbon**

**Last night was the Season 3 premiere of Mentalist in South Africa! I was inspired! So I wrote this oneshot; it's basically about how Jane's view of Lisbon changed Seasons 1-3.**

**Disclaimer: Nothing is mine

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His first impression of her was a straight-laced leader; a stubborn-streaked do-what's-right-type, willing to sacrifice everything she has for the cause that he believed to be a naïve dream.

She wasn't anything he hasn't seen before.

She was a means to an end. She was his last chance to stay in the CBI, his last link to the Red John investigation.

They'd argue endlessly, insult each other thoroughly and even do some subtle flirting between the banter. Nothing serious. Certainly nothing meaningful.

He was using her, and if he had to turn the charm on to soften that biting anger and keep the threats to have him kicked out at bay. Besides, she had the most delightful little blush.

But along the way something changed.

He got used to case closed pizza and sarcastic comments; turns out that when you work absurdly long hours with someone, day and night, you develop a relationship.

Their Senior Agent-consultant working relationship didn't miss a beat, but somehow a friendship came to be.

She was on his speed dial; they told jokes and laughed together; suddenly there were all kinds of inside jokes and traditions.

He was part of a family again, and his family was the team.

And Teresa Lisbon was his best friend.

Slowly – so slowly – he came to terms with it. It wasn't moving on, he rationalized, because he wasn't loving again. He was a broken man without any right to love again. But having a surrogate family was okay.

They were solving cases as well as ever when something drastic happened that shook him.

She cut her hair and smiled.

Alright, so it was more than just a fringe and a smile.

But that was what made him realize something: Teresa Lisbon is a very attractive woman.

Of course he knew that she was attractive. He knew that from the beginning; he _was_ a man, after all. A man with far-above-average observational skills.

But he was always absolutely impartial to her womanly charms because she was his boss and his friend.

_Only_ his boss and his friend.

And it's heavily inappropriate to notice that your boss and friend's eyes light when she laughs at something stupid he did.

Or how cute it is when she blows her new fringe out of her eyes, annoyed, through the blinds of her office.

He struggled with these weird feelings – in secret, of course – but life went on.

And with it came Red John cases that stole his attention, and psychic ladies who say stupid things to serial killers on TV and get kidnapped.

A revelation came upon him like a lightning bolt: everyone close to him gets hurt.

Considering these newfound confusing feelings, the terror struck even harder.

What if she gets hurt? What if she gets killed? What if _Red John_ kills her _to get to him_?

So he retreated to the CBI attic and distanced himself from her and the team – mostly form her, though.

But his Lisbon wouldn't let that happen, would she?

She had to trick him into working the case (something that both upset him and made him inexplicably proud) and take him on about his distancing. With her angry globes of green fire spitting at him, the single most beautiful pair of eyes he's ever known.

And they argued, because he couldn't keep the bantering impulse away, as they walked back to her SUV.

So here he sits, in the passenger seat as they drive back to the office, pondering and subtly staring at her out of the corner of his eye.

The sunshine is streaming in, making her hair glimmer and her skin glow, and her eyebrows were still knitted together as her mouth went off.

He was screwed.

How could he keep her safe when she was so temptingly beautiful? When they had such an extensive history; when she was such a large part of his life, when she's grown to be such a large part of him?

From his boss, to his friend, to his… crush? Something more?

Who knows.

He might never get to find out, because of a psychotic serial killer with a fondness for smiley faces.

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**Ha, well that ended up angsty. Well, this is me, after all. So tell me what you think please! Reviews are soul food, and my soul is hungry.**

**Much love, Zanny**


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